"Oh, yeah. I'm at Zeri." She slapped her head lightly, fulled suited up as Pierrot on her camping spot. She quickly shredded out of it. She sat on her door's step. 'What to do? Visiting Lemres. I'll do that after doing something else first… I have a feeling that ain't gonna be fun.'
The sky is clear but the ground was still wet.
Pulling out Lemres' map. "Marketplace. Oh, a market today. A bakery? I'm good on groceries. A curry restaurant. Oh, Lemres~ A theater? Hmm… No Ho. A museum. Let's do it later this vacation."
"If you're done talking yourself. Why not just walk around town? You know, sightseeing?" Her neighbour suggested. Sil felt very ly there.
"Good idea." She said sheepishly.
"Uh, kinda curious. Did you arrive yesterday in time to get the flyer?"
"What flyer?"
"There's a gourmet coming up tonight. Just letting you know."
"Wicked. Do I need to bring my own meat?"
"I think so."
"I am visiting the butcher and baker then."
*Some fresh meat and the freshest exotic bread at the market later…*
Go home had been cast on those groceries. Sil pulled out a pocket watch. "Hm… Don't wanna make Lemres wait too long. 'I'll do my souvenir shopping now. And then I'm going to see him.'
*Later…*
"'Kay." 'Got some nice gifts ready for Arms, Donny, Lidelle and Vento, Klug, Gramps, the newbies, and Hohow.' Filling out a mental checklist. 'Now just something for Sig, Ammy, and Oshare. Sig doesn't make it easy, and nothing I'll give will please ol' man Bones. Ammy's thankfully easy to please, but I better give her something she'll like just in case.'
Sil thought hard to solve her little problem.
'I'm giving Oshare a bonus on his salary. There. Problem solved! Now just Sig and Ammy.'
She thought back to the trinkets she already bought. Her lips curled a bit. 'I have a lot of friends~'
Chapter 39: Silvacation Day 2 of 7
In the half-hour since, there has been no luck finding something perfect for her best friends. And she's not giving up.
'Ammy likes togetherness. Sig likes bugs. Both are kids at heart. (Specially Ammy.) What can I get them they can't get themselves?'
Suddenly, a jewelry stand caught her eye. A horrible idea crossed her mind. "Fufufufuwha." 'Should I mess with Raffine and give her a nice necklace? Yeah. That'd be funny.'
"Hmm…" 'Would hypnotizing be easier with this silver watch? Correction: silver coloured watch.' The reflection gave her once again a good look at herself. She gladly took another chance to look like a human in public for once. If only she could get away with it back in Primp…
"Are you gonna buy that watch?"
"Whuh? Uhm… Yes, but I wanna see what else ya got. Maybe a pretty necklace."
"In that case. I got a collection for you."
The clerk opened up a case, presenting the harlequin to several brightly coloured jewels. She scanned them. She did notice something that caught her eye, she was in awe, this was perfect. She knew this is what she had to get Sig now.
After a lot of window shopping later, Sil turnes to some idiots mimicking each other with an empty frame in between, with a modest crowd watching them. On closer inspection, one of them is a mime.
"I give up. You're too good!" The man being perfectly mimicked threw some Credits into the hat of what seemed to be some kinda judge. The mime bowed.
"Thank you for playing, sir." He said from behind his stand. "Step right up, folks! Try out of psyching out the Mirror Mime and take your prize! Bonus points if you can get noise outta him. Just 5 Credits to enter, and 5 extra if you lose!"
"I'd like to try it." A teen below Sil's age threw Credits into the hat.
"Good luck, kid. Stand in front of the frame and don't leave its sight."
Sil watched. That mime really moved like it's a mirror. She wrote down some notes. Being an amateur stage magician, couldn't figure them out. The mime must be really observant and a good guesser, or plain psychic. It's a shame. It was entertaining even if this wasn't treated as some carnival game.
She held in her laughter at the teen's losing her patience. Said teen ran off in a hissy fit. Not even paying the second half.
The next contestant didn't fare any better. He played Puyo Puyo with him. Sil was reminded Draws are a thing.
The next one did a complex dance and ran out of time.
Another said some nasty words and went home crying.
The next contestant failed as well. And it was a Skeleton. Absolutely mind bending. This mime was certainly mortal and it could imitate the skeleton breaking apart and reforming as well as he could with his limbs staying where they are. But the skeleton ran out of time.
"Anyone else?" The judge fished.
"I wanna try!" Sil raised her hand. She doubted she could win, but at least it's a fun experience to write home about.
"Alright, then. Do you have 10 Credits on you?"
"Yup." Sil flashed them and dropped half of it in the hat.
"Thank you kindly, Miss. Now, please step in front of the mirror frame. You have 3 minutes."
Here Sil was standing, stand face-to-face with a mute colleague. He breathed exactly like her. Seemed to blink exactly like her. His mouth gaped exactly like her. "Freaky. Double Freaky!" She reacted to him lipsyncing as if her words came out of him.
Sil had a smirk. 'Time to out clown the mime. Should I eat a banana now… Or… Not now. There's an audience that wants some entertainment. Let's show off.' Sil dusted off her ability of using her evil amethyst aura to float. The audience gasped a bit. But Sil dropped herself to the ground in a deadpan fashion. "You kidding me?" This mime's good.
"A minute-and-a-half left."
Stretching her arms, she had to go with a different approach. Our clown took off her jacket to tie it around her waist so no unwanted things happened while performing a few tricks. It's okay, she was wearing shorts underneath.
The mime mimicked but took nothing off. "Doesn't that count?" Sil asked.
"No." The judge said bluntly. "Get his movements fully outta sync."
"I'll try." Sil, with half a spin, backflipped into a handstand. The crowd applauded, some even threw some credits at her. But all Sil had to say was "Fiddlesticks." The mime was getting money as well.
"Minute left."
This mime did nothing wrong, but now this was personal to Silvana. "Hmm." She upgraded to a one-handed handstand. "Owowowowowowow!" She tumbled over, she hadn't practice that one.
"Thirty seconds left, Miss. But I'll extend your time so you can to lick your wounds. Folks! You shouldn't hurt yourself trying to outdo the Mirror Mime."
Sil held her arm. 'How dare you make fun of me.' "'M ready."
"Alright, thirty seconds left."
'Maybe you're not in the right frame of mind, Sil. You're a…' "Oh." Sil let out a playful giggle. She performed a 'What the heck is this' pose diagonally right and left to the frame respectively. Followed up by some kind of roped pulled movement to the right and left as well, now she did some kind of tablecloth pulling move, again, right and left.
'What kinda dance is that?' The judge thought. Nevertheless the mime imitated it.
15 seconds left.
Sil hunched, arms hanging low, step by step turning her back to the mime.
And…
"Boo!" Sil turned with her mask on.
The mime visually cracked up. Laughed out loud as well.
The grown crowd applauded.
"WOW!" The judge rubbed his eyes and cleaned his ear just to be sure he's there in the moment. "Good job, Miss. You must be a pro to get him to laugh like that."
"Nah. 'M just your normal, average girl who's into working out and collecting masks." 'Good job, Pierrot, I certainly don't look like a clown now.' She was in a happy mood though.
"Pick your prize, only one thing, and since you made him laugh you get to pick from anything."
Sil looked the prizes over. Nothing she couldn't just buy if she wanted them. A beanbag. A neat treasure chest, a fancy dress. 'Too fancy'. A throne. A rare breed of a pet of a species not native to Sil's world. A big bag of money.
"Golly!" Sil wanted to slap herself for saying that out loud. But her was big. She somehow just knew what to gift Amitie with. "That!" She intensely pointed.
The judge and the mime looked at her in disbelief. "You sure? We got a moneybag."
"Gimme that."
"That throne? It's not cheap."
"Gimme her."
"You've done the impossible. And you want the cheapest thing we've got? Granted she's well mad-"
"Just give her that toy!"
"Yeah!"
"We wanna play!"
(You seeing this?) The judge nonverbally communicated to the mime. "Enjoy, the stuffed animal. Kid at heart?"
"I do like cute things. But it's not for me." Sil skipped off with the stuffed toy almost as long as the height between her feet and hips. Sil sent it home regretting that she didn't have more time with it.
But cheating on Arms with any other stuffed animal makes her feel very guilty.
*Fifteen Minutes or so later…*
Sil tucked her new pocket watch back in. "Noon." 'Better not keep Lemres waiting. Did everything I wanted to do.'
She pulled out her map to figure out where he lives.
However, she was distracted by one more thing.
Her ears were being tickled. She knew what it was, an accordion. Heard plenty of those before. But something about this one was played… Silvana fell in love with it. It wasn't played very goofy or joyful like the others. It was really mellow 'It sounds? Introspective?' Sil didn't know the words to it. 'Soothing!' She snapped her fingers. 'That's the word.' She approached the Satyr to tip him with a whopping 50 credits. The Satyr chuckled.
"Thank you kindly, Miss." He kept playing his instrument.
"You're welcome. What's the name of that song?"
"Heh. You'll find it in this book."
The hooved musician stopped playing his music to show off his book. "I bought it in the music store 'round the corner."
"Thanks." Sil dropped in some more credits to the musician.
*Knock Knock*
"Ah, Silvana. You made it."
"You sound happier than usual, Lemres."
"Ah… Um… Cinnamon Tea?"
"Hold the sugar."
"Okido. Sorry about the mess. I do a lot of favors for a lot of folks aside teaching and baking. Look, there's the chalkboard I use to figure you out. Don't touch it. For your sake, haven't written it down yet."
Sil could not hope to understand it. "Me plus… A question mark engulfed in a flame? Equals?" She read among the algorithms. It had no answer written down.
"Don't worry about it. It's just some crazy hypothesis I wrote down. Nothing concrete." Lemres put the tea and baked good on the table. "This isn't about you. Sorry, that sounded way meaner than I intended."
"Figured such. Ice." Sil casted to make her tea colder. "How's Feli?"
"At school. My friend, Mr. Discord, is filling in for me. She does have a life outside of me you know."
"I find that hard to believe." *Sip*
"Yeah, she's very attached to me, isn't she?" *Munch*
"So how was your spa day?"
"Embarrassing… From now on I'm just gonna magically heat up my own tub."
"Sorry to hear."
"The masseur was so embarrassing too…"
"You didn't get Rulue? She's the best~"
"And a familiar face…"
"Really?"
"Friend of Arle…"
"Ooo… Sorry to hear that."
Doppel sighed. "It's okay. It isn't, but you know what I mean." Lemres gave an affirmative nod.
"Anything else you wanna let out?" Lemres is the best therapist Sil had. So no hesitation.
"The Primp Journal has more flattering things to say about me than that masseur had."
"Have you sued them yet?"
"Hmmmm. No… I have the Circus' image to think about."
"Than have a civil conversation."
"How? I can't just walk up to the owner."
"Course you can, you're on good terms with Mr. Fielding, aren't you?"
"…Everything makes sense now… That meanie, I am so gonna tell Professor Accord on her!"
The two kept on babbling, good, bad, small talk, cake eating.
"So what's the case you brought him you?"
"Just an accordion."
"Really, now? Any reason?"
"I just wanna learn it."
"Well, I'll admit it does suit your image very well."
"Oh, please don't tell me I'm wearing anything clownish!"
"Striped socks."
"I-I thought they… they were… stylish."
"They are eye-catching."
*Blush*
"Heh. I can direct you to a music teacher in Primp."
"Really? Thank you."
A little more of the above later.
"Really? You're that old?"
"C'mon, my actual age is not that old."
"Pfft. Dude, you could be my dad."
"Halting one's age is normal to magicians who could pull it off."
"Oh, I know. Doesn't make it any less funny to me."
"You're gonna do it too. Mark my words."
"Oh, I am."
"You are? Sorta backfired on me there."
"Ha! It totally did, I've come to terms with it. I wanna wait till I'm eighteen."
"Oh."
"What do you mean "oh?". I wanna be an adult someday when you fix me. Still youthful and fit enough to keep doing what I do."
"You really thought about this, huh?"
"I could snap at any moment. I see it as wishful thinking."
"I am doing my best. I think I'm onto something you may have not noticed about yourself."
"Like what? I'm still an abomination…"
"Maybe stop talking to Akuma for a while. And it's best I don't tell you until I'm sure."
"Big help…"
Sil drank up her now cold tea, forgetting to warm it.
"So is your want to stop at eighteen motivated by not wanting your looks to fade?"
Sil choked on nothing.
"Nothing's wrong with that you know. Heard through the grapevine you've grown to like more girly things."
"I can say with safety that everyone is proud of your diversion."
The harlequin choked up.
"Ooh. Went too far…"
"Please don't acknowledge any changes in my personality, please. I can't handle it. The old me and Arle would hate me if they were me."
"For all you know Arle has changed too."
"Mmmmmmmmmmmm!"
"S-Sorry. That was insensitive of me. I forgot. I do mean it, though. You've grown much nicer."
"AAAAAAAH!"
"My deepest apologies! Here, lollipop?"
"Not in the mood."
"How about I try some clown tricks to cheer you up?"
The atmosphere got somewhat more jovial again.
But after a while, Lemres finally worked up the courage and had to dampen the mood. "Silvana, I think it's time for my confession."
"Uh…"
"It's not what you're might be thinking right now. It's the reason why I wanted you to visit. It's something I need to get off my chest. And you're the only one I can tell and not berate me. Or at least… I-I guess it's better to show you."
It wasn't just because she definitely owed him a favor in return. But Lemres' tone of voice was very distraught. She must be very special to see this well-known warlock like this.
"Tell me. I'm ready." Lemres smiled at the clown's care.
"Just promise you'll keep this a secret to everybody." Sil nodded with intent. "I do mean it in a cross my heart kinda way."
"I got that much."
"Thanks, it means a lot. I'll go get my broom."
If Lemres' demeanour wasn't an omen enough, surely Zeri's Graveyard will cheer them both up. Sil quietly enjoyed the flight over there. But she kept quiet.
Having stepped off the flying broom the warlock told the sorceress without saying anything.
This graveyard was about as pleasant as any other.
'Baldur. General Grey. Bug. Tongara de Pepperouchau III. Bahn. . Keil Fluge. Sermel. Pudding. Gongon. Ecco. Alex Kidd. Elise III.'
Sil decided to stop reading the gravestones. This was getting depressing.
"Here we are. This is her grave…" Lemres could barely look at it, his hat was pulled over his eyes.
Sil squatted to read the stone. "Ai. Aiti. Ativl… This name's a mouthful." She turned to Lemres who still averted his eyes. "Aiticilef? Etihw? Did I say that right? She an ex?"
"…Your sight did not pick it up?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah it looks more like a normal name to me now. I've been reading mirrored for so long… Eheh." Sil shrugged, feeling a little stupid. "Let's see. White Felicitia. It's still a mouthful… Wait. Why is the name backwards, Lemres?" Suspicion rose.
"Her name's Felicitia White. A… A… Student I failed to protect." Lemres' voice just barely did not crack.
"Oh…" Sil's empathy kicked in as anyone's would, but something was on her mind. "Felicia…"
"Felicitia."
"It's on the tip of my tongue, it sounds so familiar… Fel-i. OH!" And then it clicked. "Please tell me that's the Doppelganger!" For the first time caring about Feli, Silvana pointed at the gravestone.
Still hiding his face. Lemres took his time answering.
…
He shook his head. "No…"
"How dare you!" Sil punched Lemres hard in the stomach.
Lemres started flat out crying. "It's my fault. I did my best to stop them… But it was too laaate."
Guilt washed over Silvana. She rubbed the booboo and did her best to rectify. "I'm sorry, Lem. I was a bit presumptuous."
"And I shouldn't have brought you…"
"No! You can tell me, tell me everything if it makes you feel better…" Sil patted while walking him to a bench. It gave a good look at the gravestone.
Lemres blew his nose. And began his story.
About a few years ago. Somewhere between 5 and 8. I do my best not to think about it. I was blackmailed visiting my rich folks. I didn't like it. But that's when I met the new staff. Butler White and Maid White. Lovely couple, husband and wife if they could afford to marry. They do their best to make ends meet while taking care of their child. They are very unlucky when it comes to jobs to say it lightly. Felicitia as she was known back then. But I called her Feli. The nickname stuck, the concept was completely alien to her. But I digress.
They were very poor, and that's why my family hired them, they are scum. Any credits the Whites made, wasn't a living wage. And made sure they kept working for them because they can't afford a home. They took it. The only presentable clothes they had were their uniforms. That went for Feli too, only had pajamas and when she was old enough to work a maid outfit. Before it became a style she just liked, she did drop the cute angel wings though.
Feli was ignorant to my family's elitism, as kids often are. She was very innocent, don't laugh, she was. She liked casting magic, magic in general she liked. She didn't know the word yet. But as long as it was cool magic she loved it. You can guess what led to her interest later.
I became good friends with the three. I visited at least biweekly by broom. I helped them bake. Relieved stress talking behind their bosses' backs. I helped them fight their poverty and nowadays they have a nice house. They are well off enough to keep Baldanders fed and be in comfort.
But long before that. When Feli became of age to go to school they couldn't bring her. And my family sure as hell wasn't gonna do it. The mansion was a long way from School anyhow.
So me, being their friend, and a teacher. They asked me before I could offer to make sure Feli got a proper education. She lived with me on the weekdays until the Whites lived on their own.
A few years later I went out get me some samples for an upcoming lesson. I went into a cave. Feli followed me, I told her not to go home. But she wouldn't listen. She really wanted to be with me despite me using harsh words at her… I never use them unless I had too.
Eventually, I brought Feli into the cave despite my best efforts to discourage. One thing let to another. We found some Amethyst Pearls…
"…we both had to battle Dopplegangers of ourselves."
"Y-You…?"
"Hm…"
"Uh…" 'The shoe's on the other foot now, Sil…' "Sooooooo… How did the battle go?…"
"I'd rather not talk about it. I'm happy I still got air in my lungs, I suppose… The both of me tried to protect the original Feli. But… Know the metaphor about two dogs fighting for a bone?"
Sil silently nodded. She got it.
"Heh. I know what your thinking. But it's needless to say, I came out on top against my Doppelganger. Feli wasn't as lucky…"
'Not exactly what I was thinking.' "And you're keeping her alive because one Feli is better than none."
"Pretty much." Lemres choked up again. He gladly took the hug Silvana offered. "She had so much to live for! Her whole life was ahead of her. I didn't even have the heart to tell Alfred and Sistine!" He sobbed into her jacket. "I'm horrible."
"Another reason you keep the new Feli alive. N-Not because you are horrible, I mean." Lemres made a moan confirming it. "So. Do you want to make her more like me?"
Lemres took a big breath, he broke the hug. "If Felicitia she still was with us maybe. But what's the point? Right now she is the only Feli. Converting her now would reopen the wound. If she is aware of her status at all. She's firmly in the denial zone. Feli can get rather violent when brought up. And no matter how kooky this clone can be, and repels everyone she meets if not outright threatening them. (I had to learn stitching to fall in favor with Akuma again.) Despite being broken."
"Broken? Sounds like she's a real success…" Sil interjected.
"For what she's supposed to do, true… She's really good at self-sabotage. The real failure is. Me."
"It's not your fau-"
"Silvana. Please. Lemme finish my thought. Where was I? Oh, yeah. How could I forget? She's still human. I recognize that. Just like you. Neither of you wanted this to happen. Your case is kinda like my redemption. The one selfish desire I have that isn't just hedonism. So even I don't always have the time to help you. Rest assured. I won't ever give up and I certainly won't turn my back on you. Provided you don't go crazy."
Sil was moved. … "Is that why you brought me here? Your motivation to help me?"
"Well, it certainly wasn't to make you two friends. I would've done it anyway. But yeah. You make me feel a bit better about myself… It's nice to do it before Doppelgangers, or at least the Mirrors, are extinct." The warlock seemed to be a tad more cheery now.
"Your welcome, Lem. I appreciate you trying. Fufufu. But I do think the wait time is literally killing me sometimes."
"Heh. You, still a few days of vacation time to try to not think about it."
Lemres and Silvana walked back to the apartment. They kept on chatting.
"If you don't mind asking. How does this new Feli compare?"
Lemres pulled out a picture of his younger self, Feli's parents, and the original Feli in a white maid outfit. "As you can probably relate. She was born with different coloured clothes and stuck with it. Everyone noticed her favorite color basically did a 180. My copy, by contrast, was one for one. While Feli became an icy goth without being goth."
"The worst part is, on some level I should know Red shouldn't be my favorite. But I can't help myself. I love red."
"Interesting. So if bought you a blue dress, would you wear it?"
"Sometimes. Not like I hate blue. It's just I prefer red."
"Hm. I wonder if Feli's feeling the same on some level."
"Anything else that changed? Besides the black and violence?"
"I whipped up a little spell so she could see normally. Told her she's been hexed. Want to get yours fixed? I can do it right here, right now."
"You- Why didn't you tell me that earlier!?"
"I thought it would reveal too much."
"…"
Sil pretended that was a good excuse to her. "You're too late, thanks for the offer though."
"My bad… So, anyway. Personality wise, Feli did have a little crush on me. But her clone latched onto that part and the occult and consumed her mind. It makes her a dependent sometimes. I swear."
"That what I call overcompensation. I'm guilty of that too… Feli being a doppelganger. It makes sense why she has no boundaries now."
"Um… Let's say less boundaries. She has been better after a certain something had happened. Thanks to Amitie even if it wasn't fun for either."
"Really? What did Ammy do?"
"It's not my place to tell that."
"Oh. Pleeeaaase. You can tell me."
"Not without Amitie's okay."
"C'mooon. You trust me with Feli's identity behind her back but not Ammy's?"
"Yup…"
Sil puffed her cheeks. A minute later she decided to change topics.
"So just to make sure I don't have any wires crossed. Who knows about it?"
"Just me, you, and Akuma."
"Uuuuuh. Maybe you shouldn't have told Gramps…"
"I didn't know what to do. I had to bargain."
"It's hard to tell if he's of any help with Doppelgangers, isn't he?"
"No kidding… He will not stop berating me when the topic comes up…"
Sil patted his back again. It's more than just doing her job.
"Thanks. He's a good friend otherwise."
"Good for you. I just wanna cease to exist whenever I talk to him."
"I feel the same sometimes…"
…
"So I noticed a tombstone saying Sermel Orihsnas." Lemres gasped a little. "That has to be you, right?" Sil disguised her demanding words like an innocent question.
"Yeah, that's my copy."
'Not exactly what I wanted to hear… Maybe it's just better if I stop.'
"So, if you don't mind, I'm gonna flash myself home in a sec. The camp gonna have a gourmet, I wanna make sure all the stuff I bought is still fresh."
"You better check then. Food shouldn't be wasted. Have fun."
"Will do, Lem. See ya later." Try as she might though. Sil couldn't just seem to cast the spell to go home.
"Something wrong?"
"Hmm… I think I wanna leave on a happy note? I really have become a clown…"
"Ha. For the better right? Oh, sorry forgot you wanted to escape it for a bit."
"It's alright. I do like entertaining folks. Lemme show you some routine I've been working, brand new." Sil starting digging in her bag. "I haven't practiced enough, but that would make it funnier I think."
"You got me intrigued, Jones. I'm curious how you put a spin on that old trick." Sil ate a banana at a regular pace. Lemres patiently waited. 'Okay, how are you gonna use that peel? So many possibilities.'
Silvana dropped the banana and stepped on it, her eye firmly on her foot. "WOAH!"
"Hahahaha! You sound so surprised."
"Y-Yeah. That was the point."
"You did your job well. See ya in a week?"
"S-Sure. Bye." *Flash* "OWIE OWOWOWOWOWIEOWIE, MY BUTT! Should've just told a joke! Fiddlesticks this smarts! Even freaking Miss freaking Puyo magnet doesn't get hit here this hard! Owowowowhaaaaaaah!"
Everyone one camping had a blast cooking meat, conversing, laughing, music, it was a good time. Sil soaked the atmosphere in. By now she was used to having her face exposed to the masses and not fear for her life and sanity. But the orange campfires with the dark blue, starry sky. Rounded off with the gourmet while sitting in a comfy lawn chair only amplified it. It was a better note to end the day on than anything else.
That said, Sil did avoid talking to people beyond some playful banter. You can never be too careful. As Sil was applying some of her curry ingredients to her steak. A little boy of age 9 or so waddled up to her.
"Are you that lady who won against that mime?" He asked.
"Yeah." She simply replied with a smile.
"Wow! Mom said you really did an embarrassing thing to win."
Smile, drooped. "Whaddya want, kid?"
"Uh, I saw you do all those neat things. And I wanna do that too."
"Oh, like what the floating? That's some pretty high magic kid. You just gotta magically gifted AND know how. Duh."
"I'm not magical…"
"Oh." Sil leaned over. "Sorry."
"It's okay. I have this cool bracelet that lets me cast stuff." He pointed at said bracelet.
"Ah."
"I wanna learn how you spin in the air and stand on your hands."
"Oh." Sil smiled. "So you wanna be an acrobat, eh?" *Munch munch* 'Kids.'
"Nah. I just wanna do them."
'Kids…' "Well. I'm not professionally trained, or that good. Eheh. I shouldn't be the one teaching you this." She couldn't stand seeing this kid disappointed. "Eh. But I'll say this. Try practicing handstands against a wall, and practice every day."
"Uh. I'll try. Sound hard."
"That's the price you pay." *Mucnh munch chew* "Good luck."
Considering the linner she had with Lemres it didn't take long for Silvana's stomach to be filled. She went to her bed. She made a comfy chair out of her pillows. She wasn't ready to go to sleep yet.
"Whew, it was fun but I feel like I'm was missing something." She was lost in thought for a sec. "I feel weird, Army. Oh, well." The harlequin slid herself into the straps of her new hobby.
*Noise making*
*Monkey complaining*
"Gee, Arms. It's like I don't know how an accordion works."
*Monkey countersarcasm*
"Because it was so beautiful. Mark my words, you'll fall in love with it too once I know how."
*Moaning monkey*
Sil rested her arms on her instrument. "Will you stop complaining about my new instrument if I give you your prezzy early, complainypants?"
*Monkey consideration*
"WILL YOU!?"
*Frantic monkey nod*
Sil got up to get Arms' gift from the big pile. "Lemme open it for you, li'l buddy~" Sil ripped it open. "Hey, look. It's a baby T-Shirt. And it looks like it will fit you~"
*Offended monkey*
"Oh, you are so a baby, you complain about everything!"
*Surrendering monkey*
"You're darn right "Touché". Why do you think I chose the "Mama's boy" shirt for you?"
*Given up monkey.*
Sil put the shirt on her buddy. "Aw, shame it covers your mouth, but you're so cuddly looking."
*Monk-*
"Don't play stupid. I know that you know that I love you."
Sil reminded herself Arms is inanimate, she snuggled him one more time before she put him aside.
*More noise making*
"Hey, stop that racket! We're trying to sleep here!" Sil closed her window. She closed it to make her caravan soundproof but stopped playing. She can't get a good sound out of it anyway.
Sil made her bed and read a book instead.
…
"Arms… Will I even reach eighteen?"
*Monkey mumble.*
"It's just. I'm two years away from it and there's the possibility I won't even make it, let alone enjoy it. I gotta be the longest-lived non-successful Doppelganger, right? That's gotta do some damage on my lifespan… I hope I'm wrong… I wanna stay with my friends and see them change. Sig being able to think of more than two things at a time and Ammy, go through an… I dunno know. A goth phase, maybe?" Sil's nose became runny. "Be right back, I depressed myself again, I really should stop thinking."
She got up to pour herself half-a-gulp of giggle juice.
*Giggles* "Hi, buddy~ I'm back." The two cuddled up. "I had a funny thought on the way back. I committed genocide on myself."
*Speechless monkey*
*Inebriated giggle* "I just wanted to say that. Lemres said something like Doppelgangers going extinct."
*Concerned monkey*
"I should sleep? Yeah, prolly." The rolled over so Silvana could look at the pile of gifts. Her eyes focused as hard as they could on the small box meant for Sig.
Author's Notes:
Teeth pulled. It's not as bad as last time. It helps there's no root canal this time. The pain felt downright overhyped this time.
The graveyard scene was supposed to be its own chapter 3 (now 4) chapters from now. But it worked out here. The only real difference is the location of the graves. Originally meant to have been quietly buried in Primp instead of Lemres' own town. I feel like I could do a better job with it though…
Fun fact: If this chapter wasn't spur of the moment, the accordion… Would've appeared in 2 chapters from now anyway. With no explanation and you just had to accept it. Kinda glad I could introduce it like this. Sil/Pierrot with an Accordion is just adorable.
I had this idea of Feli being a doppelganger for ages, probably near the beginning. And TheBlackKid sorta beat me to it in "Puyo Puyo: Frozen Hearts". Don't worry, the passive-aggression will be sent in the mail. I don't mind. I wish I came up out with it earlier. (But seriously no hard feelings. Execution is really different anyway, but just as inconsequential. That's why I don't mind spoiling it. Sorry if you do.)
Cut scene: The mime gave her a card for an Clown school.
To be continued…
Oh, just noticed it's Christmas. Merry whathaveyou.
